Photograph by Jennifer Zdon, Getty Images
When you think of New Orleans, you may have a vision of dancing the night away on Bourbon Street, but there’s plenty to see and do for families. In the Quarter, tour the Cabildo, the site of the Louisiana Purchase Transfer, and now home to the Louisiana State Museum. Just a couple blocks away at Café du Monde on Decatur Street, pick up some beignets—a French doughnut—and then head to Washington Artillery Park for a view of the mighty Mississippi and Jackson Square. To see other neighborhoods, ride the streetcar along St. Charles. For $1.25 each way, you will see New Orleans’s famous old mansions, churches, the Touro Synagogue, and Tulane and Loyola Universities. For a taste of plantation living, tuck yourself in at the House on Bayou Road—complete with gardens and a pool.
Where to Play
No visit to the city known for its annual Mardi Gras celebrations would be complete without a tour of Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World. You will see how the Mardi Gras floats are made—from sculpting, to painting, to animating the mega-floats. Across town, ride the antique carousel in City Park. To see Louisiana’s swamp creatures in the city, visit the Audubon Zoo. The history buffs in the family will love the National World War II Museum, and everyone may well be fascinated with a tour of New Orleans’s famous aboveground cemeteries.
At Day’s End
In the city of voodoo, older children will enjoy the New Orleans Ghost Tour of the French Quarter, led by a theatrical guide who promises that the tour is “totally appropriate” for kids.
For streetcar information, visit www.norta.com.
Get more information on staying at House on Bayou Road.
Based on articles from National Geographic Traveler and compiled by Stephanie Robichaux
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